Glutamate Related to Learning and Memory

Researchers have determined that levels of transport molecules for glutamate increase during learning, suggesting that these molecules have an important role in the process. Their findings were reported in the February 2002 issue of Nature Neuroscience.

In the brain, several chemicals called neurotransmitters carry messages in the spaces connecting one nerve cell, or neuron, to the next, allowing the brain to function properly. Scientists believe that the strengthening of these connections by the neurotransmitter glutamate is a mechanism responsible for the storage of some memories.

A research team at the University of Houston (UH, Texas, USA) trained laboratory rats repeatedly over a period of time, which produced a change in their behavior. The researchers then examined the glutamate transporters in the animals' hippocampus region. They found that glutamate transport molecules increased by more than 100% in the hippocampus 30 minutes after the onset of long-term potentiation – the memory-forming process.

"We knew that glutamate is involved in learning, but our study is the first to investigate the role of glutamate transporters and glutamate uptake in the learning and memory formation process,” says UH biochemist Arnold Eskin, one of the authors of the study. "The job of glutamate transporters in the brain is two-fold. Clearing away neurotransmitters allows the next batch of chemical messengers to deliver a 'clean' signal between neurons. Also, in the case of glutamate, which desensitizes its receptors and kills nerve cells if too much hangs around too long, transport molecules are essential to maintaining effective transmission and a nontoxic environment in the brain.”




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